The mood surrounding the Arizona State Sun Devil football team is rightfully one of complete dismay and disappointment in the wake of their shocking loss to Arizona. It marked the third straight defeat to a markedly inferior team, leaving many to (rightfully) call for the ouster of Erickson and begin the search for his replacement.
However, shockingly enough, the door is not yet closed on the Sun Devils' Pac-12 South division title hopes.
With the general struggles of all of the South teams and USC's ineligibilty, ASU can backdoor it's way into December 2nd's Pac-12 championship game with some help.
Yet not so surprisingly, the oddsmakers in Las Vegas foresee it actually happening.
Here's how it all breaks down.
The Sun Devils need to get themselves into a three way tie with UCLA and Utah, since the first tiebreaker in that case will be division record, which eliminates UCLA, and ASU's win over Utah on October 8th would then hand the crown to ASU.
So for that to happen, Utah must defeat Colorado at home on Friday, ASU must beat Cal later that night and then USC has to beat UCLA at home on Saturday. Got all that?
The initial point spreads are very favorable. Utah is a 20.5-point favorite over the Buffaloes, USC is favored by 14.5 over the Bruins, and the plucky Sun Devils?
They are somehow favored by 5.5 over the 6-5 Bears.
A crazy roller coaster ride of a season seems to have a few more thrills and ulcers in store.